1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to card readers, and more particularly, to a card reader system which incorporates the capability for reading, storing, transmitting, receiving, printing and verifying data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Card reader units capable of reading data marked on paper cards and transmitting such data to a remote central processing unit, hereinafter CPU, have been in widespread use in the electronic data processing and communications area for some years. In many applications, such as lotteries, sports betting or casino player tracking, a plurality of dispersed one-at-a-time card readers are utilized, each having the capability of reading and transmitting data from marked cards to a CPU. However, in such applications, it would be desirable, in addition to reading the data, to provide the user entering the data with a record, such as a printed receipt, of the data stored by the CPU. It would also be desirable to verify that the data as stored by the CPU agrees with that read and/or printed by the card reader and notify the user should there be a discrepancy. While separate devices, also in communication with the CPU, can be used to provide a printed receipt for the user, they cannot detect (1) discrepancies between the data as read by the card reader and the data transmitted by the CPU for printing on the receipt, nor (2) discrepancies between the data transmitted by the CPU for printing on the receipt and the data actually printed in the user's receipt. These are serious drawbacks, especially in betting applications such as those mentioned above, wherein discrepancies of the first type deprive the user of the benefit of his chosen bet and discrepancies of the second type prevent the user from verifying the authenticity of his bet receipt.